Ty'n y Bryn Farm Buildings

Cadw's description

Location

On the E side of a minor road between Tregynon and Newtown, approximately 1km S of parish church. Reached by a short farm road, the farm buildings are on the N side of the farmhouse.

History

The substantial group of farm buildings at Ty’n y Bryn were constructed c1870 in unreinforced concrete by Henry Hanbury-Tracy when part of the Gregynog Estate. Hanbury-Tracy's use of the material at Gregynog was intended to demonstrate the benefits of building in concrete, which it was said reduced the cost of a building by nearly a half compared to brick or stone. The concrete was made from river gravel and brick fragments bonded with cement. It was laid in wet courses directly onto the wall using timber shuttering and finished with a skim coat of render. The farm remained part of the Gregynog Estate until it was sold off in the early C20. Now largely used as stables.

Exterior

A complex range of buildings incorporating cow houses, a granary and a cart shed, with a model farm type layout which was clearly intended to be aesthetic as well as functional. It consists of an E-plan block facing W to the farm road, with an L-plan block attached to the rear, thus forming 3 sides of the farm yard. The building is of rendered concrete with tiled roofs. The E-plan block has 3 gables painted black and white and with bullseye openings and ball finials (the spaces between the gables have C20 sheds added). The L gable has an enlarged opening and its L side wall has 6 arched openings now infilled with brick. The central and R gables have original doorways. The R side wall of the R gable has 4 full-height doorways and a window to the R. The rear elevation has similar openings. The L-plan block faces S and has C20 sheds in front. To the E it forms a 2-storey granary and cow shed with a bullseye opening in the gable and doorway with ledged and battened stable door in the upper storey. In its E side wall it has 4 arched openings with a doorway to a cart shed to the L, which has ledged and battened double doors.

Interior

King post roofs with diagonal struts, all of timber. The granary is reached by a timber stair and in the cow shed below it is a concrete manger.

Reason for designation

Listed as a substantial and prominently-sited group of farm buildings pioneering the use of unreinforced concrete, forming a complete and important complex with Ty'n y Bryn Farmhouse. The building also makes an important contribution to the surviving group of early concrete buildings in Tregynon.